1. Indoor Sports NSW Philosophy

To effectively administer and promote indoor sports in NSW both locally and in regional areas with an emphasis on junior development.

To provide opportunities for the development of Administrators, Players, Officials and Coaches and to encourage participation of Indoor Sports at the highest level through inter centre and national competitions.

To support the development of Indoor Sports nationally through Cricket Australia – Indoor Cricket and Indoor Netball Federation of Australia (INFA).

To maximise media opportunities and achieve increased sponsorship and funding as a result of the greater public profile.

To provide quality customer focused services to Member Centres, Players and the National body.

Indoor Sports NSW has the vision of using Indoor Sports as a means of helping children to develop their social skills, build confidence and make new friends in a safe controlled environment. It’s also a fantastic way of keeping fit, having fun and meeting new people.

Indoor Sports NSW offers competitions all year round. With in-house competitions continually running, new teams have the opportunity to join. Facilities are indoors giving participants the opportunity to play no matter the weather outside.

Indoor Sports is for everyone and offers competitions for both social and competitive teams of all skill levels. Facilities are well maintained and umpires and equipment are provided by centres.

2. Purpose of Our Policy

The main objective of our Member Protection Policy (policy) is to maintain responsible behaviour and the making of informed decisions by Indoor Sports participants. It outlines our commitment to a person’s right to be treated with respect and dignity, and to be safe and protected from abuse. Our policy informs everyone involved in ISNSW of his or her legal and ethical rights and responsibilities and the standards of behaviour that are required. It also covers the care and protection of children participating in any ISNSW activity.

3. Who Our Policy Applies To

4. Extent of Our Policy

Our policy covers unfair decisions (e.g. team selection) and actions, breaches of our code of behaviour and behaviour that occurs at practice, at social events organised or sanctioned by ISNSW, and on away and overnight trips. It also covers private behaviour where that behaviour brings ISNSW into disrepute or there is suspicion of harm towards a child or young person.

5. ISNSW Responsibilities

We will:

Implement and comply with our policy;

promote our policy to everyone involved with ISNSW

promote and model appropriate standards of behaviour at all times;

respond to breaches or complaints made under our policy promptly, fairly, and confidentially;

review this policy every 12-18 months; and

seek advice from and refer serious issues to our National Body

Serious issues include unlawful behaviour that involves or could lead to significant harm and includes criminal behaviour (e.g. physical assault, sexual assault, child abuse) and any other issues that our State or National body request to be referred to them.

6. Individual Responsibilities

Everyone associated with ISNSW must:

 comply with the standards of behaviour outlined in our policy;
 treat others with respect;
 always place the safety and welfare of children above other considerations;
 be responsible and accountable for their behaviour;
 follow the guidelines outlined in this policy if they wish to make a complaint or report a concern about possible child abuse, discrimination, harassment or other inappropriate behaviour.

7. Protection of Children

7.1 Child Protection
ISNSW is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people accessing our service. We support the rights of the child and will act without hesitation to ensure a child safe environment is maintained at all times. We also support the rights and wellbeing of our staff and volunteers and encourage their active participation in building and maintaining a secure environment for all participants.

ISNSW acknowledges that our staff, members and volunteers provide a valuable contribution to the positive experiences of children involved in our sport. ISNSW aims to continue this and to take measures to protect the safety and welfare of children participating in our sport by:

7.1.1: Identify and Analyse Risk of Harm
ISNSW will develop and implement a risk management strategy, which includes a review of existing child protection practices, to determine how child-safe and child-friendly the organisation is and to determine what additional strategies are required to minimise and prevent risk of harm to children because of the action of an employee, volunteer or another person.

7.1.2: Develop Codes of Conduct for Adults and Children
ISNSW will ensure that the organisation has codes of conduct that specify standards of conduct and care when dealing and interacting with children, particularly those in the organisation’s care. The organisation will also implement a code of conduct to address appropriate behaviour between children.
The code(s) of conduct will set out professional boundaries, ethical behaviour and unacceptable behaviour. (See Part B)

7.1.3: Choose Suitable Employees and Volunteers
ISNSW will ensure that the organisation takes all reasonable steps to ensure that it engages the most suitable and appropriate people to work with children (in prescribed positions).
This may be achieved using a range of screening measures. Such measures will aim to minimise the likelihood of engaging (or retaining) people who are unsuitable to work with children.
ISNSW will ensure that working with children checks/criminal history assessments are conducted for employees and volunteers working with children, where an assessment is required by law.
If a criminal history report is obtained as part of their screening process, ISNSW will ensure that the criminal history information is dealt with in accordance with relevant state requirements. (See Part C)

7.1.4: Support, Train, Supervise and Enhance Performance
ISNSW will ensure that volunteers and employees who work with children or their records have ongoing supervision, support and training such that their performance is developed and enhanced to promote the establishment and maintenance of a child-safe environment.

7.1.5: Empower and Promote the Participation of Children in Decision-Making and Service Development
ISNSW will promote the involvement and participation of children and young people in developing and maintaining child-safe environments.

7.1.6: Report and Respond Appropriately To Suspected Abuse and Neglect
ISNSW will ensure that volunteers and employees are able to identify and respond to children at risk of harm.
ISNSW will make all volunteers and employees aware of their responsibilities under respective state laws if they have suspicion on reasonable grounds that a child has been or is being abused or neglected. (See Part E)
In addition to any legal obligation, if any person feels another person or organisation bound by this policy is acting inappropriately towards a child or is breaching the code’(s) of practice set out they may make an internal complaint. Please refer to our complaints procedure outlined in attachment [C1] of this policy. This will explain what to do about the behaviour and how ISNSW will deal with the problem.

7.2 Supervision
Players under the age of 12 must be supervised at all times by a responsible adult. ISNSW will provide a level of supervision adequate and relative to the players’ age, maturity, capabilities, level of experience, nature of activity and nature of venue. If a member finds a player under the age of 12 is unsupervised, they should assume responsibility for the player’s safety until the parent/guardian or supervisor can be found.
Parents must turn up on time to collect their child for reasons of courtesy and safety. If it appears a player will be left alone at the end of a training session with just one child, the member will have to wait with the child until the child is collected.

7.3 Transportation
Parents/guardians are responsible for transporting their children to and from ISNSW activities (e.g. practice and games). Where ISNSW makes arrangements for the transportation of children (e.g. for away or overnight trips), we will conduct a risk assessment that includes ensuring vehicles are adequately insured, the driver has a current and appropriate licence for the vehicle being used and appropriate safety measures are available (e.g. fitted working seatbelts)

7.4 Taking Images of Children
Images of children can be used inappropriately or illegally. ISNSW requires that members, wherever possible, obtain permission from a child’s parent/guardian before taking an image of a child that is not their own and ensure that the parent knows the way the image will be used. We also require the privacy of others to be respected and disallow the use of camera phones, videos and cameras inside changing areas, showers and toilets.

If ISNSW uses an image of a child it will avoid naming or identifying the child or it will, wherever possible, avoid using both the first name and surname. We will not display personal information such as residential address, email address or telephone numbers without gaining consent from the parent/guardian. We will not display information about hobbies, likes/dislikes, school, etc as this information can be used as grooming tools by pedophiles or other persons. We will only use appropriate images of a child, relevant to our sport and ensure that the child is suitably clothed in a manner that promotes the sport, displays its successes, etc.

8. Anti-harassment, Discrimination and Bullying
ISNSW opposes all forms of harassment, discrimination and bullying. This includes treating or proposing to treat someone less favourably because of a particular characteristic; imposing or intending to impose an unreasonable requirement, condition or practice which has an unequal or disproportionate effect on people with a particular characteristic; or any behaviour that is offensive, abusive, belittling, intimidating or threatening – whether this is face-to-face, indirectly or via communication technologies such as mobile phone and computers. Some forms of harassment, discrimination and bullying are against the law and are based on particular characteristics such as age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, pregnancy, political or religious beliefs, race, and marital status.

ISNSW takes all claims of harassment, discrimination, bullying and cyber bullying seriously. We encourage anyone who believes they have been harassed, discriminated against or bullied to raise the issue with ISNSW (see Responding to Complaints).

9. Inclusive practices

ISNSW is welcoming and we will seek to include members from all areas of our community.
9.1 People with a disability
Where possible we will include people with a disability in our teams. We will make reasonable adaptations (e.g. modifications to equipment and rules) to enable participation.

9. 2 People from diverse cultures
We will support and respect people from diverse cultures and religions to participate at ISNSW Member Centres and where possible will accommodate requests for flexibility (e.g. modifications to uniforms).

9.3 Sexual & Gender Identity
All people, regardless of their sexuality, are welcome at ISNSW. We strive to provide a safe environment for participation and will take action over any homophobic behaviour.

9.4 Pregnancy Pregnant women should be aware that their own health and wellbeing, and that of their unborn children, should be of utmost importance in their decision making about the way they participate in our sport. We recommend pregnant women to consult with their medical advisers, make themselves aware of the facts about pregnancy in sport, and ensure that they make informed decisions about participation.

9.5 Girls playing in boys teams If there is not a separate sex competition, our club will support girls playing in boys teams up until the age of 12 years (when federal sex discrimination law says if differences in strength, stamina and physique are relevant, then single sex competition is required). After this age our club will consider each request on an individual basis including looking at the nature of our sport and other opportunities to compete.

10. Responding to Complaints

10.1 Complaints
ISNSW takes all complaints about on and off-field behaviour seriously. ISNSW will handle complaints based on the principles of procedural fairness (natural justice), that is:

 all complaints will be taken seriously;
 both the person making the complaint (complainant) and the person the complaint is against (respondent) will be given full details of what is being said against them and have the opportunity to respond (give their side of the story);
 irrelevant matters will not be taken into account;
 decisions will be unbiased and fair; and
 any penalties imposed will be fair and reasonable.

Initial complaints will be handled by the Sports Specific Sub-Committee. However more serious complaints may be escalated to the ISNSW Board of Directors.
If the complaint relates to suspected child abuse, sexual assault or other criminal activity, then ISNSW will need to report the behaviour to the police and/or relevant government authority.

10.2 Complaint Handling Process
When a complaint is received by ISNSW, the person receiving the complaint (e.g. Chairman, Member Protection Information Officer) will:

 listen carefully and ask questions to understand the nature and extent of the problem;
 ask what the complainant would like to happen;
 explain the different options available to help resolve the problem;
 take notes; and
 maintain confidentiality but not necessarily anonymity.

Once the complainant decides on their preferred option for resolution, ISNSW will assist, where appropriate and necessary, with the resolution process. This may involve:

 supporting the person complaining to talk to the person being complained about
 bringing all the people involved in the complaint together to talk objectively through the problem (this could include external mediation);
 gathering more information (e.g. from other people that may have seen the behaviour);
 seeking advice from our National body or from an external agency (e.g. NSW Communities or anti-discrimination agency);
 referring the complaint to our National body; and/or
 referring the complainant to an external agency such as a community mediation centre, police or anti-discrimination agency.

In situations where a complaint is referred to our National body and an investigation is conducted, ISNSW will:

 co-operate fully;
 ensure the complainant and respondent are not victimised;
 where applicable, ensure the complainant is not placed in an unsupervised situation with the respondent(s); and
 act on our National body’s recommendations.

At any stage of the process, a person can seek advice from or lodge a complaint with an anti-discrimination commission or other external agency.

10.3 Disciplinary Measures

ISNSW will take disciplinary action against anyone found to have breached our policy or made false and malicious allegations. Any disciplinary measure imposed under our policy must:

 Be applied consistent with any contractual and employment rules and requirements;
 Be fair and reasonable;
 Be based on the evidence and information presented and the seriousness of the breach;
 Be determined by our Constitution, By Laws and the rules of the game.

Possible measures that may be taken include:

 verbal and/or written apology;
 counselling to address behaviour;
 withdrawal of any awards, placings, records, achievements bestowed in any tournaments, activities or events held or sanctioned by our club;
 suspension or termination of membership, participation or engagement in a role or activity;
 de-registration of accreditation for a period of time or permanently;
 a fine; or
 any other form of discipline that ISNSW considers reasonable and appropriate.

10.4 Appeals

The complainant or respondent can lodge one appeal against decisions of or disciplinary measures imposed by ISNSW to our National body. Appeals must be based on either a denial of natural justice, because of unjust or unreasonable disciplinary measure(s) being imposed, or on the grounds that the decision was not supported by the information/evidence presented and available to the decision maker/ISNSW.

Attachment 1: WORKING WITH CHILDREN CHECK REQUIREMENTS

Working with Children Checks aim to create a child-safe environment and to protect children and young people involved in our sport from physical and sexual harm.
They assess the suitability of people to work with children and young people and can involve:

 criminal history checks
 signed declarations
 referee checks, and
 other relevant background checks to assess a person’s suitability to work with children and young people.

Working with Children Check requirements vary across Australia. Fact Sheets for each state and territory are available on the Play by the Rules website: www.playbytherules.net.
Detailed information, including the forms required to complete a Working with Children Check, are available from the relevant agencies in each state and territory.

New South Wales
Contact the Commission for Children and Young People
Website: www.kids.nsw.gov.au
Phone: 02 9286 7276

Travelling to other states or territories
It is important to remember that when travelling to other states or territories, representatives of sporting organisations must comply with the legislative requirements of that particular state or territory. In October 2011 at the Standing Council on Community, Housing and Disability Services, Commonwealth, state and territory ministers agreed to introduce, by late 2012, national exemptions to Working with Children Checks for paid employees and volunteers who are required to cross state or territory borders for work related purposes.
These exemptions will be for up to 30 days in any 12 month period and will enable workers to participate in national and inter-jurisdictional activities on a short-term basis. This means that volunteers and workers with a valid check in their home state or territory will be able to participate in short-term activities across state and territory borders without the need for additional checks.
The Australian Sports Commission will provide more information as soon as it becomes available.

Attachment 2: REPORTING FORMS

RECORD OF COMPLAINT
Name of person receiving complaint
Date:
Complainant’s Name